#anyway roll in the serious tags augh

[linisiusvondugorosth]

Greetings, Julian Nation.

I am quite impressed by how the fandom is still not a complete cemetery by now.

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

The Way Home

The Way Home

“So, since we weren’t on the boat, I gotta ask… How did you dispatch the adults?” Lucian asked the scientist as he followed him. 

“Hm? Thought it’d be obvious. Euthanasia, than cryogenics to preserve the coprses.” The scientist smiled. “It was honestly rather easy once we had them under wraps. They’ll do anything for their young. Quite different from normal sharks.”

“Is that so? Did they… say anything? I just find it frustrating that you didn’t try to talk to them first, to study their intelligence.”

“That’s what the juvenile is for. The adults were already past their prime anyways.”

Just keep talking. The court is gonna eat this up. You all are going to jail for murder.

“Honestly, isn’t it exciting? We’re introducing a new species to the world!”

The scientist opened up the door to the supply room, sliding a rather hefty cart with a collapsible sling on it.

“Oof, here!”

“Thanks… Mind if I ask you one more thing?” 

“Hm?”

Lucian rushed him, slamming the man into the wall, grabbing him by his neck.

“How much does this hurt?”

“AUGH!”

These sickos… They were a couple. They were in love. They were trying to raise a family.

“I’m going to ruin your life.” He whispered before hitting a pressure point as the man slid to the floor unconscious. Lucian looked through the man’s pockets, finding an ID, a keycard… and the man’s wallet.  

“.... This’ll do.” He took out the cash in the wallet, pocketing it. “Consider it your payment for me NOT killing you.” 

He grabbed a few other supplies before hurrying off with the cart, locking the supply room behind him, leaving the man where he was. No one would be going there, at least, not right now. He knew Eiji wanted in and out as fast as he could.

Soon as he was in the room with the tank, he composed himself, waving his “colleagues” over.

“Got ‘im. Our guide had to… go away.” He smiled thinly, a cold look in his eyes.

No one wanted to know what he meant by that.

“What do you got for us?” Eiji asked.

He held up the key card, a wicked grin coming across his face.

“...Oh, you absolute genius.”  Eiji rubbed his hands together. “Let’s roll.”

“Right, just follow me. I saw an elevator in the hall.”

“Perfect.” 

They hurried off, heading right on to the next level of the building.

Now, they were on the level that lead to the tops of the different tanks. Most were empty, nothing but concrete awaiting below.

“Just act normal. Perfectly normal.”

“We’re alone.” Lucian looked up and down the hall, scoffing a bit. “Besides, I wanna have a few words with the rest of ‘em.”

“Lucian, we can’t go to jail for killing murderers. I’m already pulling in enough favors so we don’t get slapped with vigilante justice.” Skyler hissed, smacking his shoulder.

“I know, I know.”

Chase looked around, noting the cameras in the area were on the ground. He occasionally got a glimpse of a shadow along the wall.

“I think we’re getting a warm welcome.”

“Good.”

Before long, they were at the old Great White enclosure. The filters caused the water to ripple and shift on the surface.

EIji turned to his team, giving them a serious look, taking off his glasses.

“You guys ready?”

“Ready. Hikaru’s not gonna come to the surface willingly. He knows their tricks.”  Skyler frowned, looking down into the depths. “One of us is gonna have to go in… Unless…”

“He’s also still a shark.” Eiji knelt in front of the water, rolling up his sleeve, reaching his hand in, splashing at the surface of the water, creating ripples that disrupted the filter, creating a sound. 

They didn’t have all day to wait for him. If he didn’t come up on his own after this, Eiji would go in himself… but he wanted to give the kid a chance to make his own decision.

“Come on Hikaru…” He whispered.

Chase kept his BB gun aimed at the hallway, not taking his eyes off of it.

Skyler pulled out her bat, stirring the water with it, causing more ripples.

These movements should at least make him curious. It should be close enough to the “yummy hum” regular sharks fall for.

There was movement below, coming right up at them.

“Do you hear that?” Lucian whispered.

“Their stupid hum trick? Or the footsteps?”

“The footsteps.”

They narrowed their eyes, getting into position.

“Lucian, you keep by EIji, Hikaru might be hurt.” Skyler pulled her bat out of the water. “Eiji?”

“Skyler… Go sma-ACK!” 

A sandpapery hand gripped his as tight as they could, clawed fingers digging into his skin. Eiji bit his lip, bracing himself as Hikaru pulled hard, nearly sending him into the water.

“Whoa! Hikaru! Easy! Easy! I’m not gonna hurt you!”

The boy’s head surfaced for a moment, his eyes full of anger as he pulled harder.

“Liar…” He hissed. “Liar…”

“Easy… Easy…” He pulled out his pendent, showing it to him. “I’m like you!” 

Hikaru froze up, hesitating, swimming closer, curiosity coming to his eyes.

“You’re not with them?” He murmured.

Eiji shook his head, giving him a gentle look.

“I promise, I’m not with them. You can trust me.”

Hikaru growled, moving back. 

Eiji frowned, reaching into his bag, turning the ghost box up to full volume.

“Hikaru.” The box blared out, in its monotone voice. “Hikaru, we are here.”

That, made the boy pause.

“... You can see them?”

“No… but my son can. And they lead me to Hideki. My name is Eiji. I’m from the Memoria coven.”

Hikaru sunk deeper, eyes growing wider.

Eiji held his free hand out to him.

“C’mon. Your mom and dad helped us every step of the way. We can send these people to jail.” 

“I… I can see Hideki?” Hikaru’s eyes were dark, keeping his distance… still keeping a grip on Eiji, in case he had to pull him into the water with him. He was faster. He reasoned he could outswim a human running for their life.

He wanted to trust him so badly… but he was still scared. The outside world seemed like a far away dream, compared to the way he was living now.

A test subject, ran day in and day out. Fed stuff that’s not even fit for cats. Poked and prodded. Mocked….

His eyes stung, reaching for Eiji’s hand.

“You can see Hideki. We’re going home right now. Okay?” Eiji grasped his hand, pulling the boy up, partially lifting him out of the water. 

“P-Promise?” His tail swished, unsure… something felt wrong.

“I promise.”

An alarm blared overhead, causing them to jump.

“Sorry to interrupt such a sweet theft-ACK!”

“LIKE HECK YOUR INTERRUPTING THEM!”

Eiji looked over just as Skyler swung her bat at a guard’s head, knocking him unconscious.

Chase was using the end of his BB gun to hold another back.

“You guys better get your butts moving! Time is not on our side anymore!”

Hikaru huddled against Eiji, shaking like a leaf.

“It’s okay. You're okay.” He looked at the guard with disgust. “What do you wanna do to him?”

Hikaru looked between the adults before a dark look crossed his eyes.

“Into the water….”

“You heard the boy! Eiji, go!” Lucian slid the keycard into his front pocket. “Swipe this on any doors you see and make a break for it.”

“Right.”

“You thought it’d be that easy?” Hikaru asked, as Eiji bolted off with him.

“Let’s just say I was hoping faking being a horrible person would work.” 

It wasn’t long before the team rushed to catch up to them, Chase’s BB gun missing.

“Took all my effort to not go over the side too.” He panted as they entered the elevator.

“Basement level.” Hikaru whispered to Eiji. “They brought me in through there. It’ll go outside. We are going outside… right?”

“All the way out.” Eiji held him close, cradling him in his arms.

While Hikaru was trying to keep quiet to keep minimum exposure away from them, he knew it was just a matter of time.

“One small problem…” Hikaru reached behind him, brushing a piece of plastic.

“... Frick.”  Eiji knelt down, turning him around seeing a tag protruding from the boy’s dorsal fin. “Be honest, does that hurt?”

“It did when they put it in. I know how to pull it out though. They can’t track me without it. This is tag number three.” Hikaru fumbled for it behind him. It was harder to grab it, dripping water like crazy. “If I change back it’ll be stuck in me still.”

“We’re almost to the basement.”

Skyler checked her phone, noting a message.

“One of my friends from the force just messaged me. They’re already storming the building from the front.”

“So we go out the back!” Eiji helped Hikaru reach the tag, making sure it didn’t shift, until the boy could unclip it.

It took a few minutes, the boy sighing in relief as the tag fell free from his fin. The next time he transformed into this form, the hole would be fully healed.

“How long does it take to change back?” Eiji asked. 

Hikaru sighed shakily, looking at his form. He was so tired. It normally was easy to force a shift back to human, but right now… He wasn’t sure.

“I… I don’t think I can… Not right now. You guys have no idea how hard they ran me until you guys showed up.” Hikaru looked up at the team, a frown on his face. “... Did you mean it? About… them going to jail?”

“Every word.” Eiji offered his arms to him, the boy wrapping his own around his neck. He stood, lifting him up. 

“Thank you.”

The basement floor opened up to them, rushing out.

“Left!” Hikaru cried out as Eiji veered that way. “The door’s this way!”

“Right!” 

He fumbled for the keycard, sliding it into the door as it was pushed open into the light of day as the sun shone down on them.

There was chaos outside, police were swarming the building. 

“Skyler? Be honest, are we gonna be screwed if we leave now?” Chase asked, crossing his arms. “I mean, we did our damage.”

“I’ll handle this…. Buuut.” She grabbed Lucian by the arm. “I’ll need Lucy.”

“HEY! What did I say about LUCY!?”

“Chase, go with them. I got this.” 

Chase nodded, hurrying off to handle damage control. Eiji slowed his jog to a walk, knees becoming shaky as he reached his van.

“We’re almost home free, kiddo.”

“Deki…?”

“Deki’s gonna spoil you like crazy.” Eiji unlocked the car, setting Hikaru along the back seat. 

The boy’s eyes were drooping, threatening to close at any time. He didn’t want to sleep yet. He wanted to know exactly what was happening.

Eiji squeezed his hand, giving him a gentle smile.

“You’re a tough one. I can appreciate that. I’m a twin too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup. Older than my sister by ten minutes. How about you?”

“Five minutes older… Deki’s technically my “little” brother.”

“You’re a good big brother then for hanging in there so long.”

Hikaru shrugged, curling up on himself. He was quiet, his body shaking still. 

Eiji frowned, hesitating before looking through the van, finding a blanket Carmen had stashed in there. Mainly for the times where Ken had dozed off. 

“Is this okay?”

Hikaru looked at him, nodding a little.

“Yeah… Thanks.”

“Welcome.” Eiji wrapped him up. 

Hikaru curled up more… sniffling, as he tried to hide it. 

Eiji frowned, sitting beside him, stroking his back.

“I’m so sorry, Hikaru.”

“Why…? Why us?” He whispered, a small sob escaping him. “What’d I do bad? What’d Okaa-san and Otou-san do bad?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I promise that.” Eiji kept stroking his back, frowning. “You didn’t deserve anything that happened… and I can’t promise everything’s gonna be perfect.”

“Nope… Hello foster family… New town…” 

Eiji shook his head, confusing him.

“When I said we’re going home… Hikaru, you boys are NOT going to be alone in this. I won’t allow that.”

Hikaru sat up, rubbing at his eyes. 

“Why?” He sniffled. “Why do you wanna help two freak kids and risk getting killed like that?”

Eiji gave him a gentle look.

“Because, I’m a dad too. If someone murdered me I’d want someone to watch out for my son. And…” He sighed shakily, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ho boy, I wanted to tell you when we got you back to your brother, but you two really are similar, y’know that?”

Hikaru tilted his head.

Eiji smiled a little.

“My friend, Skyler, she’s a social worker. She’s helping my wife and I.” He offered an arm to him. “Hikaru… we want to adopt you and Hideki.”

… What?

The boy gave him a bewildered look, tilting his head. 

“Why?”

“Like I said, we want to give you a chance. I can’t turn back time… but we can make sure you guys have a chance to just be kids.” Eiji gave him a warm look. “To go on dates, to go after your dreams, get into mischief and feel weird, in the way every normal teen does.”

“That… That sounds amazing…” Hikaru sniffled, looking down. “I… I’m sorry. I just don’t…”

“Don’t know how to process all this right now?”

He nodded, wiping at his eyes again. 

“But I do want that… I wanna… I wanna be normal. I wanna tinker with my stuff again, I wanna eat normal food and rough house with my brother and… and…”

Hikaru lunged forward, tackling Eiji a bit, hugging him tightly. Eiji brought his arms around him, stroking his back.

“I wanna go home…” He sobbed a little. “Please… just take me home.”

Eiji hummed softly, rocking back and forth a little.

“We’re gonna take you home, kiddo. To Hideki. You can meet my wife… and our youngest son. You okay with having a really young little brother?”

“How little?”

“He’s just six.”

Hikaru chuckled a little.

“Just a lil shark pup…” He relaxed a bit, curling up to Eiji… his dark brown eyes sliding closed. A small glow overtook his form, as a long tail became lanky legs. Rough, shark skin adorned with tiger stripes faded to pale skin, the fins on his head, fading away into messy black hair.

He was dressed in a purple t-shirt and khaki shorts, but he was there.

Eiji held him close, stroking his hair, taking in the boy before him.

Safe and sound. 

Right where you belong.

ooooo

“Hikaru.” 

He winced, rolling away from whoever was speaking. He was just so comfy. He didn’t want to move. It was warm… So warm…

Where am I though?

“Hikaru, wake up buddy.” 

He opened his eyes slowly, looking around blearily. He was still wrapped up in the blanket, strapped into the car. He was still leaning on Eiji at that.

“Hey there.” Eiji smiled. “Sleep well?”

“Y-Yeah…” He paused, yawning into his hand. He buried his face into Eiji’s jacket, not quite ready to move just yet. He stopped, looking at his hands, opening and closing them slowly.

Not having to stay in his predator born form to keep alive in the water… He was actually himself again. He grinned, tears of joy stinging his eyes.

“I’m…” He laughed a little. “I’m really okay.”

“That’s right, kiddo.” He ruffled his hair, grinning. “You changed back after you fell asleep.”

“Good…” He yawned again, shaking his head. “Alright, I’m up.” Hikaru, looked up at Eiji, giving him a grin. “I’m ready.”

“Come on then.” 

He helped him out of the car towards the house. Unlike Hideki, Hikaru didn’t even blink at the large house. He took note of it, more so wondering where his brother was in this large house.

Eiji didn’t even get to open the door before it was thrown open.

“HIKARU!!!!” 

The boy cried out as Hideki tackle hugged him right to the floor. His eyes went wide, looking up at his twin.

“You’re okay… You’re okay…” Hideki laughed, hugging him tightly. 

Hikaru returned the embrace, burying his face in his shoulder.

“Yeah… M’right here. Nii-san’s here.”

“Karu-Nii…” Hideki nuzzled him, a churr escaping. His grip tightened a little, keeping his sibling close to him. “Sorry, I-”

“Missed you too.” Hikaru finished, tears of joy running down his face. “I’m home… I’m really home.”

“We’re home.” 

The twins looked up at the towering house, the last of the daylight bouncing off the windows.

It wasn’t the house they grew up in… It would take time to adjust.

Hikaru ruffled his hair, helping Hideki to his feet.

“So, where’s this room I was told about?”

Hideki chuckled, pulling him inside. 

“First, come meet the rest.”

Carmen and Eiji were just inside, sharing an embrace. They had been watching, keeping their distance to let the boys have their moment. Ken was hiding behind his mother, a timid look on the child’s face.

“Hikaru, this is Carmen and Ken. They’re part of the family too.”

Hikaru bowed a little.

“Thank you for… for taking us in and…. and for everything.”

Carmen smiled gently.

“You’re family now. We’ll always have our family’s back.”

“Even weird shark kids?”

“Oh, especially.”

Ken hurried up to him, tilting his head.

“Uh… Hi?”

“Are you a new big brother too?”

Hikaru knelt down to his level, ruffling his hair up, eliciting a giggle.

“Sure am. Anytime you need me, I got your back.”

“Yay!” 

Hikaru yelped as Ken tackle hugged him, but didn’t fall over this time. Instead, he just lifted him into his arms, leaning on his twin a little.

“So, what do you think, Bro?” Hideki asked, smiling. 

“I think… I think this is what our parents would’ve wanted.” Hikaru replied, looking up to Eiji and Carmen. 

“Alright you three, c’mere!” Carmen brought all three boys into a bear hug, eliciting laughter from them.

Eiji chuckled, bringing out his phone for a quick picture.

“Welcome to the family boys. Welcome home.”

[mcutrio]

Two Down [13]

Two Down [13]

Tags: @buckys-little-monster @imaginesofeverykind

“Now that Thor’s out of the picture, how about we play a game?”

Kat froze on the spot, a sheen of sweat bursting out on her forehead as she swallowed anxiously, her body seemingly turning to stone at the sight of him. Her hands turned cold upon the light switch and they hovered at her side, shaking.

“Don’t be so afraid,” the menacing man cackled, “it’s not me you should be so scared of.”

Finally, Kat managed to take in a breath. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Grandmaster, haven’t you heard of me?” The man said, holding his hands out. Upon Kat remaining silent at his question, he leaned forwards. “No?” He then scoffed, followed by a roll of his eye. “You humans are more unbearable than I thought.”

Kat paled, opening her mouth to call out to her friends, though the Grandmaster waved his hand and her mouth become solid shut, unable to utter a word.

“Anyway,” he began, strolling around her room, turning his nose up. “I’ve been watching this mess of a triage you call yourself and your friends, and I have to say I’m surprised somebody as smart and as strong as yourself is unaware of everything that’s going on around her.”

Kat swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters… your friends, they’ve already moved on,” he laughed, “they’re uninterested in the life that I know you remain to cling onto. You allowed yourself to focus on the demigod in hopes that he’d better your life, but you can’t wipe out your past,”

Kat didn’t look him in the eyes, though she began to pace back towards her bed as he approached her, standing tall and menacing.

“It’s branded in you. This life; it’s in your blood,” he told her, a grin on his face. “I suppose Hydra is genetic after all.”

She frowned, “I don’t understand. Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you and I are on the same end of the stick, really,” the Grandmaster stated. “And it humours me to wonder how your team would react if they all found out of your past; of your parents,” he added, a twinkle in his eye.

“My parents?” She asked timidly, stepping back once more and crawling backwards onto her bed, struggling to keep her distance.  

“In time, all will be revealed,” the Grandmaster nodded, “but until then, perhaps you ought to keep an eye on everyone's favourite All-American hero, hmm? He’s particularly sensitive when it comes to Hydra, and he’d give anything to get vengeance upon those who hurt his old friend Bucky.”

“But I never hurt--” Kat was cut off by a bright flash of light and he vanished, and she immediately felt an overwhelming sensation of energy leaving her body, as if pulled by a magnet, and she passed out.

That next morning, Kat and Courtenay turned up at the gym, wondering as to where Tabitha was as she hadn’t met them at their routine time.

“Do you think she’s still asleep?” Courtenay asked.

Kat shook her head, stretching her arms over her chest. “No,”

“And what’s up with you?” Court questioned, “you’re being weirdly quiet. Is yesterday still bothering you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kat admitted, “and I just had this weirdly unnerving dream,” she added, thinking back to the weirdly vivid conversation she had with the man who called himself the Grandmaster. If it wasn’t for her having woke up in a cold sweat not long after the conversation, she’d be entirely convinced that they’d actually spoken.

“It’s just the stress,” Courtenay reassured her. “I didn’t sleep much, either. I’m sure Tabitha didn’t but still-- where is she?”

Just as she said that Bucky sauntered into the gym and called for Steve, who immediately looked up at him.

“Tabitha’s hanging back on this one,” he reported, “she says she’s not feeling well.”

Although he didn’t look particularly convinced, Steve let it pass considering she’d never missed a training session before. The two girls exchanged a look of concern, and Bucky eyed them knowingly before nodding a final time and leaving the room.

“I’ll partner with you today, Kathryn,” Steve decided, following his words with a sheepish grin. “considering Thor isn’t here. Just go easy on me, alright?”

She felt particularly nervous about this, so much so that her hands became clammy and her breath became short, but she tried her hardest to squish away the feelings as the two of them locked arms with one another, just as the rest of the team did.

Steve’s brow furrowed as his arms clenched with tension, Kat’s grasp becoming a little tighter as her fear began to spike. Her heart thudded at the glint in his eye and she had a sudden, brief thought to the words that thrummed through her head.

“He’d give anything to get vengeance upon those who hurt his old friend Bucky.”

In a fit of her paranoia, she twisted out of Steve’s grasp, snapped his arms apart and punched him solidly in the chest. It wasn’t just a weak punch, either, it held a lot of force that had her arm jerking as she did so. The super soldier flew backwards, slamming into the wall before dropping to the floor with a groan. Kat, panicked, stared at her shaking hands and turned on her heel, leaving the gym and slamming the doors shut behind her.

“Augh,” Steve groaned, his face scrunched as he lifted himself from the ground with the help of Sam. “She did not lie on her resume when she said she was strong.”

Nat scoffed. “You’ve seen her lift cars, Steve.”

“I know,” Steve breathed, holding his chest before regaining his stance. “I was just trying to sound cool.”

“Is this something we should be concerned about?” Sam suddenly said under her breath, “she just totally took you out.”

The three of them turned to Courtenay, who looked just as dumbfounded and concerned as everybody else.

“It’s been a rough few days for her, I think,” Courtenay said, “she’s on edge because of nightmares,” she said honestly, “and I’m pretty sure she’s acting out because she misses Thor.” Court shrugged, the lie seamlessly appearing.

Sam rose an eyebrow, unamused. “You don’t just hit a guy because you miss your boyfriend,” he rolled his eyes, “even if he is a god.”

Before anyone could reply to Sam’s witty remark, Steve urgently pressed his fingers to his ear, his face turning down with concentration. He straightened his posture after a moment and swallowed, his jaw stiff as he addressed the remaining few people in the gym.

“We can pick up where we left off tomorrow. Be at the conference room in one hour,” Steve commanded, gathering Nat and Sam hurriedly before leaving the room.

“What was all that about?” Pietro questioned.

Courtenay followed Steve with her eyes, swallowing. “Something serious, apparently,” she sighed, stretching her arms over her head, “everybody around here needs to learn how to relax. Take a chill pill, grope a stress toy, smoke some weed…”

“It does not seem like something you can relax about,” Wanda responded, looking a little nervous.

Courtenay hummed at this. “Yeah, maybe not. But there could be worse things,” she nodded.

“Worse things? Like what, exactly?” Pietro questioned, cracking his knuckles as they finally began to leave the gym.

“I mean… it’s not Ultron,” Courtenay pointed out.

“She has a point,” Pietro shrugged, looking towards his younger sister who seemed less than amused, though a small smile crept up on her face.

Forty minutes later, everyone had gathered in the conference room and shrouded around the large, metal table. Kat was there before her two friends, who looked at her in questioning. Word had spread around the team that Kathryn had taken Steve down in training, and she looked to be still on edge about the situation. Making a silent promise to herself, Court swore she would have a talk with her about it later.

“We’ve pulled you here to talk about something serious,” Steve announced, his fingers dancing over a tablet. “Crossbones,” he said, swiping across the screen and launching Crossbones’ digital profile up onto the TV screen at the end of the table. “Just an hour ago, he was identified by the Nigerian Police force,” he added solemnly, swiping across his tablet screen again, as the unmasked version of Crossbones was revealed. CCTV footage showed him losing his helmet in a heist, and it zoomed in on his face. It wasn’t the best quality, but the burns, the facial features… it was clear to everyone who he was.

All three girls stayed frozen in their seats, unable to tear their eyes away from the screen as a side-by-side image comparison of Brock Rumlow and his new alias, Crossbones.

“Rumlow has a group,” Steve began, his eyes cast downwards. “A team of unemployed Hydra thugs wreaking havoc in Africa.”

“Motive?” Tabitha questioned quietly.

“For now, it seems to be money,” Steve answered. “Though who can tell what he’s planning to do once he gets enough.”

“Which means that we have to find him, and fast,” Tabitha decided, clenching her fist. Steve looked up at her now, wondering as to why she was so concerned. “Bucky can’t stay here, Rogers. You know it’s not safe for him.”

Steve pondered over this. “Bucky isn’t a threat.”

Tabitha frowned at his response, “and I never insinuated that he was. But if you wait around any longer, I won’t be the only person fighting you on that.”

Steve clenched his jaw. “We’ll find him somewhere safe; somewhere off the radar.”

“Good,” Tabitha answered, relaxing slightly.

“So what do we do?” Pietro asked, folding his arms and tilting his head back slightly.

“We can’t let Rumlow continue with what he’s planning,” Steve nodded, “and I think you were right,” he nodded towards the three girls, who perked up in questioning. “I do believe he’s trying to draw me out.”

“So you’re going right in to kick the hornet's nest?” Court questioned.

Steve smiled. “Precisely.”

“You do realise that dropping yourself at Rumlow feet is exactly what he wants, right?” Kat questioned. “Who on earth do you plan on taking to make sure he doesn’t get a hold of you?”

“All of you,” Steve finalised with a nod.

The team looked amongst each other for a moment, considering the situation. Over the course of the next three hours, they managed to pull together a plan. They narrowed down their search area to Nigeria, though specifically where was the tricky part, considering that Rumlow heists didn’t have a particular pattern. They then planned for Bucky to be shipped off to Germany, Berlin, that very evening. Although Tabitha was sad to see him go, she pushed aside her distress in knowing that he would be safe. At least, for now.

“I wish I could come with you,” Tabitha said earnestly, watching as Bucky gathered his minimal belongings and shoved them into a suitcase.

He paused, a t-shirt in his hand. “It’s not safe for you,” he sighed, throwing in the shirt before slamming the suitcase shut and zipping it up. “I’m not safe for you.”

“Bucky,” Tabitha mumbled, her voice etched with sadness. “You know that’s not true,” she argued gently, placing her hand upon his arm as he stared down, unfocused and melancholic. It was easy to see that he was in distress and didn’t want to leave.

“I shouldn’t have to leave,” he sighed, somewhat angry. He rubbed his forehead briefly before clasping and rubbing his jaw. “But I should, you know, in case Hydra decides to shove my brain into a blender. It’s easier for me to be away from everyone; I’m hidden, and… and you’re not around to get hurt.”

“Rumlow won’t touch you,” Tabitha swore, clenching her hands. “He might try, but he won’t get the chance once we’re through with him. And when that’s over-- you can come home.”

He let out a huff of a laugh before pressing his hand against her cheek, his eyes fading from a frown to a somewhat calm, content gaze.

“Are you going to be okay?” He questioned, somewhat concerned.

Tabitha sighed through her nose and leaned against his hand, taking in the warmth. “I’ll be fine, and you’ll be fine,” she muttered, reaching up and grasping his hand against her face. “We’ll see each other again soon.”

“Yeah,” he answered quietly, his voice low and gruff. He leaned forwards and captured her lips with his passionately, his hand soft yet firm upon her face as the other snaked around her waist, pulling her torso against his. Her heart thudded and pounded, blood rushing to her face as she felt her cheeks turn pink. They separated slowly, both taking a deep breath. “Stay safe.”

“You, too,” she answered quietly, squeezing his hand for a final time before the two of them walked towards the jet that would be flying him off into Berlin. Steve stood by the jet ramp, waiting for his friend. He offered a friendly smile towards them both and then clapped a hand on Barnes’ shoulder.

“You gonna be alright?” Rogers asked, and Bucky nodded with a smile.

“I’ll manage,” Bucky shot at him, grinning before offering him a hug and saying his personal goodbyes. He walked up the ramp, turning to take a glance back at the rest of the team who had gathered, and he nodded at Kat who had steely eyes upon him and Steve.

He then disappeared into the jet, the ramp closing behind him. Steve sighed heavily before turning back to the team, ushering for them to follow back inside. Tabitha lingered for a moment, feeling a deep, heavy weight inside of her that told her that this was the wrong thing to do. However, she ignored this and turned back on herself, playing with the collar of her t-shirt and hurrying back indoors.

[cwdcshows]

Batwoman - S1 E10 - "How Queer is Everything Today"

I'm not usually a fan of recaps at the start of an episode, but after more than a month since the last one, this is a rare instance where the refresher didn't hurt. I swear I don't remember them actually giving "Mouse" a villain name.  Are they really going with "Skin Pirate"?  I mean, aside from the fact that he basically seems to be a callback to "False Face" from the 60s Batman series; "Skin Pirate"..... I don't know... sounds lame for a villain name.  

I had re-watch this train save a couple of times to really process what they're trying to do here; especially since I wasn't looking for a split second and thought there was only one grapple line coming off the bike and they were trying to suggest that the bike was somehow had enough braking power to stop a train in its own right, which obviously shouldn't work.  Then it became clear that she had fired a rear grapple as an anchor that was actually doing most of the work stopping the train - but that the grapple was just hooking to one of the embedded ties on the track.... I know they've had Batman stop runaway trains in different iterations, but he at was at least using the Batmobile - which, first off, why the hell doesn't Kate have access to the Batmobile? But more importantly, while there are some pretty far fetched things that go on in the Arrowverse, the idea that the grappling hook could hook onto one of those ties when there's hardly anything for it to snag is unbelievable; to suggest that it stayed snagged and that it was secure enough and the grappling line was strong enough to withstand the force of stopping a fucking train moving at full speed seems downright ludicrous.  Whatever the grappling line is made of, it seems more like to snap; never mind the absurdly short stopping distance or the force that stopping so suddenly would have on the train or the people on board.  I might be wrong, but it seems like stopping it that way would risk derailing. You might say that that's better than crashing, but arguably neither are very good scenarios. Oh, for fuck sake. So the cable does give out, but only after the train has completely stopped; at which point the tension on the cable should start to slack, shouldn't it?  If it was going to unsnag and whip forward, it should only do that while the train is exerting any forward momentum in excess of the strength of cable and its hold on whatever its anchoring to.  But we saw the train come to a stop, inches from crashing naturally; and presumably the end of the line isn't on a hill that would cause the train to roll forward in lieu of functioning brakes. Augh.... To be honest, I read about the how this episode opened with an incident that lead to Gotham gossiping about Batwoman and this "Chris Evans-esque cop"; and consequently I'm a little spoiled by how this "story" ends.  I'm long over the Vesper Fairchild voice overs, they're obnoxious and unnecessary.  And serious, "Chris Evans vibe"?  More like a young Gary Busey, or a Ken doll who's been granted his wish to be made a "real boy", but maybe that's just me. "A train lost it's brakes and I saved 450 people from smashing into a concrete wall.  And all people care about is Batwoman's sex life." Yeah, people suck. So wait, Kate and Luke go to investigate the train while they're still cops around - with phony credentials, because you know, fuck secret identities - but then while they're on the train, i.e. he active crime scene, there ceases to be any indication that anyone else is around; not even after Kate finds an easy to access box that turns the lights off in the car.... Sure, whatever. And sure, turning off the lights does happen to help them identify what they're looking for - but how the fuck did Kate know that?  How was turning off the light supposed to help them in anyway? Oh, for a second I thought this was a smart villain, who used the device on the train to tap into the devices of the people closest to it upon discovery - which for Batwoman and her version of Alfred could have been a very bad thing.  But instead it just turns out that this is going to be your run of the mill villain computer super-genius who can conveniently hack into all the devices in the city; which may still present a risk of exposure for Kate and Luke, but they're still just two people in a sea of millions and gleaning information that might reveal anything useful about them remains a monumental task. Hmmm....is there really no.... I don't know, lower-tech way of maintain communication between Luke and Kate when she's in field?  I get wanting to avoid a potential hack of the Batcave, but it seems super dangerous to have some means for her to call for support if she needed it.  Surely there'd be something that wasn't "networked". I honestly don't know what to think about Kate's concerns over the whole "Slam Bradley" thing - on the one hand, yeah, representation matter, but on the other hand, fucking super hacker threatening the city.  Maybe wait to worry about the former until addressing the latter?  You can have courage and still prioritize. And not for nothing, but Luke did have a point about misdirect; and Kate even says it herself "their image of me is not me" - I know how this story ends, and it's not the wrong decision, especially because it means breaking down assumptions and being a good role model, but they do kind of gloss over the fact 'their image of me is not me' is kind of the crux of a good secret identity. I don't think there's uniformity for school bell tones these days, now that many schools no longer use actual bells, but are we to believe that there is only one fucking school in all of fucking Gotham that this particular bell could be used at?  Gotham is a huge metropolitan city that is meant to rival New York - or possibly even be New York in the DCU - I looked it up and there are 542 public high schools in New York City.  And that's a number that surprised the fuck out of me, I expected it to be up there, but I never imagined it to be over 500. But that goes to show often these shows tend to downplay the scope and size of these cities, particularly Gotham, that are supposed to be immense, only to be shown as rather a smaller large city.  They did this before in an earlier episode where they made a big deal about an outdoor movie event; as if Gotham were some sort of small, close-knit community and it made no sense. Commercial aside - that moment you get distracted and don't immediately notice that the program went to commercial and all you hear is a woman exclaiming, "that is such a large load" and it takes a second after turning back to the tv to register that it's a Tide commercial... (sigh) So Kate's bright idea was to just literally drop into a fucking high school dance and ask who the hacker is?  And she expected, what, for her to say, "here I am!"? Come on, what the fuck; once again, how the fuck does Kate know that making everything else go dark will help her fucking find anything.  And for that matter, how the fuck does that help her find anything?  If her....whatever....knocked out the power to the lights and devices and everything, why would the hacker's equipment be immune? (sigh)..... Again, I knew how the story thread of Kate wanting to out Batwoman's sexuality would play out; so I knew the decision would be motivated by a closeted teen she would meet, but seriously, it's the hack and that is her reason for cyber-terrorizing the fucking city?  Those are arguably terrible circumstances to live under, but you can't use that to try to justify holding a fucking city hostage or endangering the lives of, according to Kate earlier, 450 people that were on that train.  Whether she actually had control and would have stopped it or not is beside the point; to say nothing of the fact that she escalated to exponentially more serious crimes after that.  And we're supposed to feel sorry for her because she thinks Batwoman was probably popular in high school and "famous" now?   How the fuck did Alice figure out who the hacker was? Wait, did whoever write the first part of this episode just like, stop half-way through and someone else took over without reading what happened earlier in the episode?  Alice attacks the hacker, Kate attacks Alice. Alice knocks Kate out, along with the hacker and tells her that the bat will join them later.  Cut to the next scene and Alice tells her that she's looking for Batwoman, because the other students tagged her in a bunch of photos - but you just fucking saw her?  Why knock her out and go to the shop room, if you just want to have this confrontation with Kate?  And all to get Kate to take off her mask.... What, Kate is actually prominently known in this city of millions?  Why?  I mean, yeah, her cousin is rich and her dad was pretty prominent, but were we given much reason to think that Kate was like, a local celebrity?  And why is a national publication like the Advocate spotlighting Kate, who has been in business for what, a month, maybe two? Oh, yeah, train full of hundreds of people, fuck em'; but it's that she got snippy with Kate Kane that she regrets..... So, Kate's actually a billionaire.  I mean, I'm not necessarily surprised, and it was clear the Kane family was well off, but I honestly don't think they properly established that they were "Bruce Wayne-rich". They're obviously going to walk back this outing by the end of the episode; at this point I don't know why they even bother with these kinds of fake outs. What the fuck kind of cuffs did Kate just shoot from her hands?  And seriously, if it ain't broke, don't fix it; it'd be one thing to develop cuffs that were harder to escape from, but what the fuck would be the point in developing a cuff that saves you like what, a whole fucking second to put them on compared to normal handcuffs? "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss" Fuck you. Oh, and the dumb-ass cop tries to kiss her.... Fuck you more, writers, fuck you to he ends of the earth and back.... So what, did the hacker (I don't care what her name is) only send Alice and Kate specifically the message outing Kate and the rest got the message about the bomb? Wait, they showed that the kids at the dance got a message too; yet they didn't seem to be trying to evacuate in response to a bomb threat until after the cops showed up.... Augh.... they're going to fucking make the hacker her side-kick, aren't they?   Because you know, hijacking a train, threatening live, trying to extort and entire fucking city....childish hi-jinx..... The writing for this episode is atrocious.  Luke walks into the cave talking about Kate achieving cover-girl status and fallout, and it's only because I read about how this storyline plays out and saw the "cover" in question that I know what the fuck he's talking about.  I honestly skipped back to see if I missed them showing the cover for a few second and nope; anyone watching this for the first time without spoilers wouldn't have a clue what's happening in this scene.... So.....what the fuck are they going to try and do here?  For a second I was going to ponder if the Crisis reboot meant that Beth had a twin who became Alice, but then I remembered that Kate and Beth are twins (I think.  Right? Just fraternal, rather than identical.)  And it's still possible that Beth could be retconned as having an identical twin and they're all triplets. According to the preview though, it's not just Kate who's thrown by this other Beth; so that scenario seems less likely.  This would suggest that "Alice" could turn out not to be Beth at all, which has always been a distinctly possibility; especially since everybody was hip to the idea way too easy and early in the season.  But that doesn't explain the casual way that "Beth" strolled into Kate's office, talking about being abroad as if she wasn't supposed to have been missing for the last 14 years (14, right?  It's been a long break since non-Crisis episodes...). This becomes way too much of a cluster fuck to untangle if they try to legitimately make "Beth" out to truly be Beth; especially if Crisis has somehow shifted anything.